Emmanuel Van der Auwera: Exhibitions in Paris

Van der Auwera’s works demand critical engagement with both distant horror and mediated intimacy. He expects and encourages skepticism, even refutation, of the loaded images we engage with on a daily basis. Simultaneously his practice brings into focus our dependency on that documentation as a stand-in for memorialization.

 

— Justine Ludwig, Executive Director, Creative Time

O’Hara’s, an Irish pub located close to the site of the Twin Towers, has become a living memorial for fire fighters, policemen, and emergency workers, who are honoured through badges displayed proudly throughout the bar. The bar became a sanctuary for emergency workers after the fall of the towers, and every year on September 11th the streets around the pub are brimming with crowds paying tribute. Using a smartphone, Emmanuel Van der Auwera captured the ambiance of the event, slowing down the footage dramatically to give weight to each individual present. We do not ever see the pub or the events drawing the attention of the endless mass of people, just the looks of gravity on the faces of those gathered.

Traditionally using polarized film to reveal images on a blank screen, Van der Auwera flips this process around, this time using the film to obscure the video. Here, the sheets are not fixed to the glass but loosely hung, reminiscent of construction tarps or police tape. The top layer of the screen has gashes removed, and is then draped with the black material, bandaging the monitor as if treating the collective wounds of those who came to commemorate mass loss. By masking the video, the artist allows us to see just glimpses of each persona, rendering them into archetypes rather than portraits. Without knowing the context, these people could easily be seen as actors, taking part in a pre-choreographed gathering.